New Stops in Atlantic Ave., Bay Ridge and More
Are Possible as Brooklyn Biz Grows Exponentially
By Sarah Ryley
Brooklyn Eagle
RED HOOK — At a near frenetic pace, Tom Fox darts around his office as he talks, arranging chairs, answering calls, sorting the pages of a contract for the New York Water Taxi’s newest service from Yonkers. The Port Authority is arriving in 30 minutes; he has another appointment in an hour, a Statue of Liberty proposal to finish, and summer service is starting on Saturday.
Several other stops and services are in various stages of progress. Governors Island and Atlantic Avenue are on the horizon this year, a proposal has been submitted to move the entire operation to the Atlantic Basin in Red Hook, and to have boats running every 20 minutes instead of 40 minutes, with two new Brooklyn stops in North Williamsburg and Greenpoint.
Fox says he would also like to add a stop at 69th Street in Bay Ridge, but that wouldn’t be possible this year.
There’s a perfect view of the Statue of Liberty from the Water Taxi’s modest waterfront headquarters inside Red Hook’s Beard Street Warehouse; quiet and sunlight pour through the windows; and the office staff operates at a casual hum, seemingly unaffected by Fox’s excited energy.
“It’s a great location, but I hardly get to enjoy it, I’m so busy,” he says, casting a quick gesture and half-glance toward Lady Liberty.
In the four years since New York Water Taxi started transporting people around in the yellow checkered ferries, with the slogan “My way ain’t the highway,” the business has grown exponentially, from servicing 120,000 passengers the first year to 980,000 last year.
About a quarter of those riders are commuters, “the shoulders” of the operation, and the rest are tourists, sightseers and New Yorkers looking for an alternative route to Shea Stadium.
“If there was one thing I did right, it was to paint those boats yellow with black checks on them,” says Fox.
Wanted: Room for Growth
Fox says his business is outgrowing its Van Brunt Street location, with room for only nine boats, but enough demand to add four or five more within the next two years. To that end, he and his partners, The Durst Organization and Harry Hawk, submitted a bid to operate a maritime center at the Atlantic Basin, or Pier 11 in Red Hook.
Fox says he and Durst, who specializes in building green, “are kindred spirits, old hippies if you will.”
Their proposal was dubbed the “Red Hook Beach” on a cheery Web site they made when the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) was in the beginning stages of seeking ideas for Piers 7-12, which are now embroiled in controversy because of the container port occupying Piers 7-10.
In addition to an expanded Water Taxi headquarters, the proposal included a beach and restaurant similar to the one in Long Island City; slips for 70 to 100 boats; a full-service maintenance and fueling center; dry docks; artisan space; and docks for transient vessels, all using the latest in “green” technology.
The EDC took the area where the group proposed a boutique hotel and spa, which bordered the cruise ship terminal at Pier 12, out of the original Request for Proposals (RFP). The Bushwick-based New York City Harbor School, also in the original Red Hook Beach proposal, is now moving to Governors Island.
Fox says the business has been eyeing the Atlantic Basin for the past two years as “the most logical place” to expand because of its size, depth and location near the center of the five boroughs. And the demand for a full-service center for commercial and recreational boats is certainly there, given that no other exists in the harbor.
The EDC is still deciding who will be awarded the Atlantic Basin contract.
Vision: To Dot Waterfront
With Water Taxi Stops
In the meantime, Fox continues his work expanding the wildly popular water taxi service.
He gets excited as he rushes to a map on the wall, illustrating his vision of a Brooklyn waterfront dotted with stops: 69th Street, 59th Street, Fairway in Red Hook (which is starting seven-day service for the first time this Saturday), the Atlantic Basin, Atlantic Avenue, Fulton Ferry Landing, South and North Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and on to Queens.
Some of those stops already exist, with the Fulton Ferry Landing in DUMBO as the Water Taxi’s third most popular location in the city.
The 69th Street stop is a point of contention for Councilman Vincent Gentile, D-Bay Ridge, who managed to secure $500,000 for a floating dock only to hear from the Department of Transportation (DOT) that they’re “not interested in subsidizing ferry service,” says Gentile’s spokesman, Eric Kuo.
“I have very little doubt that it would be very well used,” says Kuo, noting that a ferry commute to Lower Manhattan would only take 15 minutes for only a few bucks, versus at least 45 minutes by car or subway.
But Fox defers the possibility of 69th Street service to no sooner than next year. He has more than enough on his plate right now.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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